He had appeared as a solo artist and as the emcee half of the duo Eyedea & Abilities (along with long-time friend and collaborator DJ Abilities). His non-battle rhymes were generally very philosophically or thematically based, and often tell a definite narrative. His song "Bottle Dreams" is a well known piece about a young sexually abused violin prodigy who commits suicide.
For much of his youth, Eyedea lived with his mother in downtown St. Paul, MN. He attended Highland Park High School, with interests including psychology, physics, and yoga. Favorite authors include James Joyce, and Finnegan's Wake is a favourite text of his.
First establishing himself as battle emcee, Eyedea toured the circuit between 1997 and 2001, notably winning top prizes at Scribble Jam ‘99, the Rock Steady Anniversary 2000, and Blaze Battle Chicago 2000. He also toured extensively as second emcee for Atmosphere, with DJ Abilities sometimes filling in for Mr. Dibbs as tour DJ.
In 2001, he released "First Born" with his partner DJ Abilities (collectively, they were initially called the Sixth Sense, but more recently were known as Eyedea and Abilities). In 2002, under his pen name "Oliver Hart," he released the self-produced The Many Faces of Oliver Hart. In 2004, he and Abilities reunited to release the self-titled E&A (released March 23, 2004). All of Eyedea's releases have been on the Rhymesayers record label.
In addition to touring independently and with Rhymesayers labelmates, Eyedea and Abilities participated in the Def Jux-sponsored Who Killed the Robots? tour.
In 2006, Eyedea temporarily abandoned hip-hop writing and battle rapping for a new rock music project entitled Carbon Carousel.
As well as performing with Carbon Carousel, Eyedea and others had started a group called Face Candy. They released an album full of freestyles over free jazz percussion entitled This Is Where We Were.
He was signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment, and frequently collaborated with Slug, Blueprint and Sage Francis.
Eyedea died in his sleep on October 16, 2010 in his St. Paul apartment.[17] He was found dead by his mother, according to a friend.[18] Cause of death was released November 18, 2010 and ruled an accident, from respiratory depression, caused by opiate derivatives, according to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office. The specific drugs found in Larsen's system have not been revealed to the public.[19]
Various hip-hop artists went on their Twitter accounts to pay their tribute to him, such as Immortal Technique, Mac Lethal, El-P and P.O.S, among others.[20][21][22][23][24]
On December 25, 2013, it was announced on Eyedea & Abilities' Facebook page[25] that a star was registered under the name Eyedea to commemorate Larsen on the web site Online Star Register.[26]
Fellow hip-hop artist and friend Murs paid homage to Eyedea on his track "I Miss Mikey" on his album Have a Nice Life. Also, the song "Flicker" from the album Southsiders by Atmosphere where Slug describes different sides of Eyedea and their relationship can be called a eulogy.[27][28] In 2013, The Uncluded, a collaboration between folk punk singer Kimya Dawson and hip hop artist Aesop Rock paid tribute to Eyedea in the song "Bats" from their album Hokey Fright.[29] Additionally, the songs "Michael" from the album Flowers for My Father, by Sadistik, "Toast to the dead" from the album The Martyr by Immortal Technique, and "Great Eyedeas Never Die", from the album King No Crown by Blueprint, are also tributes to Eyedea. [30]
Song About a Song
Eyedea Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ladies and germs!
It's my pleasure to introduce to you
Your leader and savior, Oliver Hart!
I just wanna send a special, special thank you today
Anyone who donated a little of something in the collection can
Now see uh, this next song is a song about writing this song
Now I'm not some profound visionary but
This specific incision didn't particularily take too long
I was just running up these backstage stairs
And suddenly it dawned on me
What a good idea, true inspiration
But with no pen or paper to record the creation
I aborted the plans of grand innovation
And stood bored pacing on the wood floor
waiting for more wars to pour from my cranium
Maybe I'm not cut out for this writing gig, I thought for a brief second
But then it was like the lightning hit through me in a complete headspin
And kept punching me with phrases concepts rhyme patterns and song structures
A long flux that dropped fire 'til I was finally finished
And in a matter of minutes consciousness is linked with the inventive infinite
And one of my friends happened to have a pen
So I wrote it all down on my hand
That was that
Thank you
We're just gonna
Thank you thank you
We're just gonna pass the collection can around one more time
Try to find it in your pockets and hearts to donate all your money
God won't forget you
The song “Song About a Song” by Eyedea is a self-referential song that describes the process of how the song was written. The song begins with the introduction of the performer, Oliver Hart, who thanks the audience for their contributions to the collection can. He then introduces the song as a song about writing the song. The lyrics then describe the moment of inspiration when the artist was running up the backstage stairs when he suddenly had the idea for the song.
The artist describes how he did not have pen and paper to record the idea and was forced to wait until he could find a writing tool to begin writing. Initially, he doubted his abilities as a writer, but then something magical happens, and he becomes flooded with inspiration. He vividly describes how he was struck by lightning and kept punching himself with phrases, concepts, rhyme patterns, and song structures until the song was finally finished. In the final verse, the artist thanks the audience for their contributions and asks for a final collection for those who may have missed the chance to donate earlier.
Overall, the song's meaning is about the creative process of writing a song, and it highlights the importance of inspiration and creativity in artistic creation. The song also emphasizes the importance of gratefulness and shows appreciation for the audience's contributions.
Line by Line Meaning
Ladies and germs!
Introducing the artist, Oliver Hart, to the audience.
It's my pleasure to introduce to you
Your leader and savior, Oliver Hart!
Further introducing the artist to the audience, using grandiose language.
I just wanna send a special, special thank you today
Anyone who donated a little of something in the collection can
God won't forget you
Thanking those who donated to the artist, and suggesting that God will remember their generosity.
Now see uh, this next song is a song about writing this song
Explaining that the following song is about the process of writing the song itself.
Now I'm not some profound visionary but
This specific incision didn't particularily take too long
Humorously downplaying the artist's own creative abilities and the amount of time it took to write the song.
I was just running up these backstage stairs
And suddenly it dawned on me
What a good idea, true inspiration
But with no pen or paper to record the creation
Describing the moment when the artist had an idea for the song, but lacked the means to immediately write it down.
I aborted the plans of grand innovation
And stood bored pacing on the wood floor
waiting for more wars to pour from my cranium
Feeling discouraged and waiting for more creative ideas to come to him.
Maybe I'm not cut out for this writing gig, I thought for a brief second
But then it was like the lightning hit through me in a complete headspin
And kept punching me with phrases concepts rhyme patterns and song structures
Expressing self-doubt before being struck with inspiration, which kept bringing more ideas to the artist.
A long flux that dropped fire 'til I was finally finished
And in a matter of minutes consciousness is linked with the inventive infinite
Describing the surge of creative inspiration that lasted until the song was completed.
And one of my friends happened to have a pen
So I wrote it all down on my hand
That was that
Explaining how the artist wrote down the song's lyrics since he lacked traditional writing materials.
Thank you
We're just gonna
Thank you thank you
We're just gonna pass the collection can around one more time
Try to find it in your pockets and hearts to donate all your money
God won't forget you
Thanking the audience once more and asking for additional donations, once again suggesting that God will remember their generosity.
Contributed by Daniel F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.